How would you respond?

Finny came home a few days ago with a packet...it contained a summer workbook (beautiful...all in color, etc) with a matching reader rabbit CD-ROM....these were labeled as a summer enrichment program. I thought this was a really wonderful thing for the school to do and we loaded the CD-ROM into the computer......I went to the airport to pick up my mom and Andrew came home with one....Thomas loaded it into the computer, etc....and the kids were sooooo excited...THEN, I noticed in Andrew's packet that there was a note that was missing from Finnys...it stated that we could 1. purchase each set at almost $28 per set or return it after we took the weekend to look at it...



Call me a wiener, but that really bothers me that people would send these things home with children as if they were some sort of a gift...let the children see the CD-Rom and really cool looking workbook, touch them, etc...and then put a parent in a position to say no. They could simply send a letter home stating that they had this to offer the parents if they wanted it. The problem was that Finny's recital and birthday were coming up and to purchase these two (I couldn't purchase only one) it would have cost me around $60! We simply didn't have the money....it was kind of either tickets for the ballet recital OR these workbooks...and I was really bothered by this....The kids were disappointed, but accepted that I was going to have to send it back....they really had believed that the school gave them a present.....



I took it back to each teacher and simply stated that I really regreted that they had sent this home as we weren't currently in a position to purchase it and that the school was marketing to children.....One teacher was in total agreement with me, but the other teacher went off half-cocked about the fact that her children didn't have a problem with sending it back, so why did mine?



How would you have responded to this whole situation?





Kris
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."
Douglas Adams

[houseelf]

I agree with you, this tactic seems pretty underhanded. After all, it is effectively marketing a product to young children within their classroom.



Our computer is 8 years old and doesn't have a CD Rom. I'm sure that there are families in your district who lack the requisite equipment. It would be a different scenario if the school endorsed a particular product and made access readily available to the parents upon their request. Suggesting such a product would be analgous to providing information about suggested summer reading and other enrichment programs and would appear to be in the children's best interest. I wonder how much "kick back" the school will receive for each product sold. At a minimum, I would be engaging in some dialogue with the school about their fundraising policies.



Can you tell by my posts that I'm in a racous, rebellious mood today? I don't know where this warrior woman mentality is coming from....



Kelly

Man, that is just WRONG! That's like sending a toy home with a kid and a note saying "You can purchase this toy for x amount of dollars or GIVE IT BACK!" That's MUCH worse than the horrible commercials aimed at kids during cartoons. What a dirty, underhanded, even MEAN thing (what about the kids whose parents simply cannot afford to make the purchase?) to do! YOU REALLY NEED TO GET ON THAT SCHOOL BOARD!!!!



Jennifer

[mommax3]

Kris,



I think I would do exactly what you did, and I might also have done what Kelly said and asked how much of a kickback the school was getting from this marketing ploy and where, exactly, the money the school makes from this would be going.



Annoying, to say the least!



Sally

Thanks...I just think it is a bit...tacky of them to market to children......but not everyone agrees with me, so I'm afraid to really speak up too much..



Kris
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."
Douglas Adams

Kristen - you are sooooo right - it is terribly tacky. The people who don't have a problem with this are tacky, too. So there.



Jennifer

[Meenah]

Very underhanded I think. I would write another letter to the editor. No kidding.

Luanne

[Meenah]

As a matter of fact, have Kelly write the letter for you!!!!!

Luanne

Kris,



we have had the same packets come home for the last three years. The first year I remember thinking they were a gift too until I saw the payment form. I don't know if the school sent out a note or not the first year but I know that last year and this year the school sent home a letter a few days before they sent the package home. If you didn't want your child to bring home the package, you had to fill out the form and send it back to school. I thought that worked well. I had already told my kids that we couldn't afford the whole package but we did buy just the workbooks. We actually had the CD-roms because the kids got them for Christmas. So... we got the workbooks, which for me, is a great way to get ideas to keep the kids entertained all summer long.



It is too bad your school didn't think of sending a note home. It wouldn't be that big of a deal and would save a lot of headache.



Robin

What I don't like about that scenario is that it really "pits" the kids against one another in a way. It becomes a peer pressure thing of sorts - what if you are the only kid in your class NOT bringing home or buying a packet? This sickens me because it plays on one of the worst parts of the institution of public school - peer pressure. Disgusts me.



Jennifer